Seeing Double

I was looking through some old Shutterfly files and found this one of Trenton taken at about two months. Quite the resemblance, eh?

My Boys and Their Daddy

Come on, they are adorable, right?

Sunday and Monday were two days in a row that we just got to lay low. Between the end of the semester, Jim running in preparation for his race this week, and holiday visits, this month has been a whirlwind. It is soooo nice to have him home for a bit and be able to do things (like blogging, laundry, peeing, etc.) with TWO hands.
Jim leaves on Tuesday to fly out to AZ and run his Across the Years race. If you are up for it, you can actually send him an email that will be delivered to him as he runs the race. Cool, eh? I will be spending two days with my parents and ringing in the new year at their house. Makes me feel like I'm nine again, being home for that holiday ;) But you certainly can't sleep through the ball drop, right? I sure can't.

So you wanna hear something crazy? Apparently, I am at 84% of the maximum free space capacity allowed (1 GB) by Google. They say that is about 4,000 pictures worth through Picasa (media sharing owned by Google). Looks like you CAN post too many pictures. Those of you who know me well understand that I can be quite frugal sometimes (okay, all the time), so it pains me to think I will have to start paying an annual fee to keep the blog going. But I will do it for you, dear readers.

Del Val Reunion @ the Brosnans

Jonathan and Alex kindly hosted a great get-together at their new place for all of Jim's old high school buddies. Jim, Jay, Mike (above), and Mary, Mike's wife, all went on a hike in upstate NY on the 26th. The following day, we met up with them and a few other Del Val alumni for dinner and company. I love getting together with friends who are in from out of town around the holidays.

J&A's place is kick-a**... Their dining room table had no problems seating the twelve of us. Everyone was so excited to discuss the new house, Dan and Michelle's engagement, James's life on the West Coast, and Mike and Mary's travels from Charlottesville, VA to NJ for the week.
Bring on the wine...

Trenton was, overall, a really good boy. He played with his toys and tried in earnest to get the cat to come near him (it did not). We finally got him in pajamas and left around nine o'clock-- another night out waaay past bedtime. He took about 45 minutes to fall asleep in the car, then woke up and screamed for 20 minutes straight, wanting to get out of his car seat. After four nights in one week where we were out past bedtime, I'm kinda glad to be laying low at home for a bit (a few days, at least). Ollie? He slept it all off in the car. Went for four hours without nursing... again, bring on the wine... ;)

Christmas Day, 2008

After a light lunch, we were off to Mountain Lakes where Jim's maternal grandmother lives. Both kids were sacked out in the car.

Dinner was fantastic and delicious. Grandma is always so happy to have us all at her place for this holiday.

Trenton got this fantastic Dance Camera by Playskool from Great Grandma Wilson. Check out the video!

Family is growing!
Below, "The Firstborns" pose for a picture.

Wait, what do you mean Christmas is over? Trenton was not to thrilled about that. He asked if Santa was coming again tonight... I had to explain to him that he won't come back again until he is three and a half... But T's birthday will be here before he knows it!

Christmas Morning, 2008

Woo hoo! Santa came!

Of course, the first thing Trenton sees is the Big Wheel. He just HAD to ride on it! How exciting...

It was great to watch him dive into his presents, but then proceed to look for ones that had Oliver's name on them, and hand out gifts to Mommy and Daddy, too. He took the time to look at each gift and play with it before moving on to the next. It was so nice to do it in such a calm, enjoyable manner!

Trenton got new pieces for his train set, a harmonica, and lots of games. Ollie received a new Glow Worm, books, and toys from Santa.

Trenton was also surprised to see the crumbs and carrot pieces left behind by Santa. He was a bit thrown off by the hat, though ("Mom, why did Santa leave his hat?"..."Oh, he probably has a lot of hats. I bet it is a thank you gift for the cookies!")

Ollie stayed asleep pretty much the whole time. So one of us was holding him while the other took pictures. Sorry for the grainy video-- without proper lighting, that's what you get. And it wasn't even seven in the morning yet when we began doing this...

Ah, yes, T's big gift (the only gift he asked Santa for) was the Mickey Mouse flashlight. From what I hear, those were really hard to find this year. Santa may have had to shop on E-bay and pick up a vintage, 1970s flashlight. But that seemed to have been the one that Trenton had in mind. He had said all along that "Santa was making it and the elves were painting it."

Christmas Eve 2008

Trenton had had a rough night... poor kid was sick with some sort of bug... so we got off to a bit of a late start on Christmas Eve. After driving to North Brunswick, we greeted Grandma Lacina and helped decorate some cupcakes for Tiffanie's birthday (which is on Christmas!)

Once Pop Pop got home from work (why the heck do they make you work on Christmas Eve, anyway!?), we were able to start opening some presents. Below, Trenton shows off some cars he scored with.

The big hit was this Hot Wheels toy. Thank you SO much, Mom, for getting something that can fold up and not take up too much storage space! The thing is cool-- it unfolds to six feet in length and can race four cars at a time. He loves it!

Uncle Len and Aunt Tiff came a bit later and we all enjoyed a fantastic ham dinner. Jim, the boys, my parents, and I then went to church before returning back to Spruce Road for dessert. Trenton changed into his pajamas and was asleep in the car on the way home. Mommy had to remember to put out cookies and carrots for Santa. Which she did ;)

Waiting for Santa...

Okay, so I have to play a little catch-up with the posts...
Here are some shots of the boys hanging out on the day before the night before Christmas. ;)

Ollie has really started to babble and jabber. It is so exciting! He loves faces, especially Mommy and Daddy. When not sleeping or eating, he can be found talking to his "friends" (the animals on his various mobiles) or his brother.
Trenton below has some of Daddy's Bed Head hair product in his lovely blonde locks...

Christmas Lights Show

You know how there is always that one house in town that gets decked out to the nines in time for the holidays?
I remember visiting one in East Brunswick, near my grandparents' house, each year. But that was before the era of the blow-up decor!
This house, right here in Howell, is something else.

We also visited for Halloween and let Trenton get out of the car and walk around. Hopefully, we'll make one more drive-by before they take the things down.

Oliver's Baptism

Oliver was baptized this weekend at the First United Church of Christ in Milford. This is the same church that Jim attended as a child, that his mom is still a member of today, and that Trenton was baptized in when he was an infant.

Andrea and Len, his godparents, served as fantastic witnesses to the event. Oliver was good, overall... just a little fussy during picture time!

Pastor Dale performed the service. Such a nice guy :)

How wonderful that we could have his baptism just before Christmas. The bell choir played and the children of the congregation put on their annual pageant.

Tiffanie had a few toys in her bag, as well as a flashlight... thank goodness... it kept T entertained the whole time.

Afterwards, we celebrated with a lunch at the Konopacks' home. Grandma made some wonderful venison chili and Daddy decorated the cake with frosting. It was low-key, enjoyable, and a great way to celebrate this new little boy we have in our lives. We love you, Oliver!